Herbert Ernst Groh (27 May 190528 July 1982) was a Swiss

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

. Groh was born in

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

and subsequently studied in Zurich and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. One of his teachers was Carl Beines, who also taught

Richard Tauber Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948) was an Austrian tenor and film actor. Early life Richard Tauber was born in Linz, Austria, to Elisabeth Seifferth (née Denemy), a widow and an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theat ...

. He began his

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

tic singing career in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

in 1926, with engagements following in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

and a successful tour of Italy in 1927, where he also began to make his first recordings using the name of Ernesto Groh. He then started to appear on German radio and devoted himself to developing a career as a recording artist - also making films, but soon giving up the stage - a career that lasted well into the LP era of the 1950s. He died in 1982 at

Norderstedt Norderstedt (Northern Low Saxon: ''Noordersteed'') is a city in Germany and part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region (''Metropolregion Hamburg''), the fifth largest city (with approximately 80,000 inhabitants) in the federal state of Schleswig-Hol ...

, near

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Critical appreciation

Marcel Wittrisch Marcel Wittrisch (1 October 1901 – 3 June 1955) was a popular German operatic tenor. Life and career Wittrisch was born in Antwerp, Belgium to a German family, and subsequently studied in Munich, Leipzig, and Milan. His career began in Hall ...

, Groh is inevitably compared to his contemporary

. According to

Alan Blyth Geoffrey Alan Blyth (27 July 1929 – 14 August 2007) was an English music critic, author, and musicologist who was particularly known for his writings within the field of opera. He was a specialist on singers and singing. Born in London, Blyt ...

: '' "Groh . . . is fonder yet than Tauber of unwritten touches of quite exceptional delicacy, and surpasses his older coeval in sheer technical control." ''

Recordings

A selection of Groh's recordings were released in 1990 by Pavilion Records on Pearl (GEMM CD 9419).

Films

References

*Blyth, Alan (1990), 'Herbert Ernst Groh' (liner notes) for Pavilion Records Limited {{DEFAULTSORT:Groh, Herbert Ernst 1905 births 1982 deaths People from Lucerne Swiss operatic tenors 20th-century Swiss male opera singers